Monday, November 12, 2012

An Interview with Jackie Robinson's Chief Historian 11/12/12

Hey baseball fans!

I know I promised this a long time ago, but finally, I have the answers to an email interview with Jackie Robinson! Well, kind of. Like the Babe Ruth Interview, I wasn't able to speak to Jackie directly, since he passed away many years ago, but I was able to interview the chief historian of his Foundation and Museum, Yohuru Williams. So, without further ado, here's the interview:

Matt: Jackie was truly a pioneer in baseball and beyond. What further
progress do you think still needs to happen?

Yohuru: Jackie would be thrilled with the tremendous progress not only in major league baseball, but also in the other professional sports. As the first
four-letter athlete at the University of Los Angeles, Jackie came to appreciate
the power athletics has to bring people together. The University as well as the
community at large often turned out to watch him compete and his stature as a
star athlete allowed him to take a stand on important issues. Today, Jackie
would very much celebrate not only the diversity of the game, but its global
impact. He would also likely highlight the role of other pioneers such as
Roberto Clemente in helping to break barriers and increase baseball’s appeal
while remaining committed to a humanitarian mission of interracial cooperation
and peace.

Matt: How was Jackie able to stay so focused and ignore all the mean
comments that many fans directed at him during and after games?

Yohuru: Although Jackie has been lauded for his resolve in not fighting
back against those who said and did mean things to him, it was a struggle. As
someone who had experienced the bitter sting of racism, Jackie understood that
he bore a tremendous burden. In his autobiography, I Never Had it Made (1972), he recalled the internal turmoil he
felt on being asked not to retaliate against those who might treat him badly.
“Could I turn the other cheek? I didn’t know how I could do it. Yet I knew I
must.” His motivation was clear, “I had to do it for many reasons. For black
youths, for my mother, for Rae (his wife Rachel), for myself. I had already
begun to feel that I had to do it for Branch Rickey.” Of course, not only was
Jackie able to steel his emotions, he remains a powerful example of the
importance of civility, and the power of self-restraint.

Matt: Were there any people (living or dead) outside of baseball who
Jackie looked to for inspiration?

Yohuru: Jackie’s first hero was his mother, Mallie
Robinson whom he credited with instilling in him a sense of confidence and
self-esteem. Jackie Robinson was also a staunch supporter of the Civil Rights
Movement and greatly admired many of its leaders, most notably the Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King and NAACP head Roy Wilkins. Jackie was also an admirer of
New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. A
lifelong Republican, Jackie appreciated many of Governor Rockefeller’s moderate
policies at a time when the Republican Party was beginning to shed its mantle
as the party of Lincoln. Jackie felt that Rockefeller remained steadfast to the
Party’s founding ideals and worked with him on various projects. As Jackie
recalled of their relationship, “A man like Rockefeller is surrounded by people
trying to please and soothe him and I think he appreciated my outspokenness. On
several occasions, not always happily, the governor conceded that I was one of
the few people close to him who usually spoke up when I thought I had to.”
Jackie was also a great admirer of his wife Rachel, whom he remained deeply
committed too. In addition to working with Jackie on a variety of humanitarian
initiatives, Rachel was an Assistant Professor on the faculty at the Yale University
School of Nursing. She also later served as the Director of Nursing at the
Connecticut Mental Health Center. Jackie admired her selfless dedication to
others and her commitment to education.

Matt: In 1951, when Bobby Thomson hit the "shot heard round the
world" against Ralph Branca, what was the reaction in the clubhouse?

Yohuru: “The Giants win the Pennant, the Giants win the Pennant,” the
words still carry the bitter pill of disappointment for Dodgers fans. As you may know, it was the first sports
event ever broadcast nationwide. The sense of tension was great as Ralph Branca
took the mound to pitch to Bobby Thompson who had homered off him just two days
before. The reaction in the clubhouse is very much what one would expect -- sheer and utter disbelief combined with disappointment. Nevertheless, Jackie and his
teammates were professional. Jackie and Ralph Branca had a great relationship.
On opening day of his Dodger rookie season after Jackie had received death
threats, Ralph made it a point to sit by Jackie. He also was the first player
to take the field and stand with Jackie after other members of the team refused
to play. Jackie respected Ralph as a competitor and as a friend. He and the
other Dodgers used their disappointment as motivation. In the years following,
the fateful pitch rumors circulated that the Giants had actually stolen the
sign, by using a telescope. A recent book by Josh Prager, Echoing Green (2006), documents the scandal. Jackie, Ralph and the other Dodgers played the
game with a deep sense of integrity, an integrity that they did not lose in
defeat.

Matt: Can you please tell us something about Jackie that few people
know?

Yohuru: In addition to his career in baseball, Jackie was a prolific letter
writer. In addition to writing regular opinion pieces for various newspapers, including the New York Post and the New York Amsterdam
News, Jackie corresponded with a number of politicians and civil rights
leaders on a variety of issues. Jackie explained in a memorandum to Robert
Douglas, the manager of Nelson Rockefeller’s presidential campaign in May of
1968, “As an ex-athlete I am always aware that a good offense is the best
defense and when you are behind you pull out all the stops and go with your
strength.” I imagine few would suspect that Jackie was as artful and prolific
with a pen as he was with a bat. Michael
Long has edited a fantastic book of Jackie’s correspondence entitled First
Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson, which is a
must-read for anyone interested in this aspect of Jackie’s post-baseball life.

I hoped you liked the interview. Special thanks to Yohuru Williams for doing such a great job!! If you want, you can check out another post by me about Jackie breaking one of the most important barriers in all of sports. Thanks for reading!

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About Matt

I'm a baseball fan year old from Springfield, NJ who was appointed the youngest MLB Pro Blogger at the time on MLB.com back in 2012. My favorite team from the 21st century is the Yankees, but I also love the whole history of the game, including the great old timers, teams, ballparks and events of the past. I started my blog because as I learned more about baseball, I found that most of my friends knew very little about baseball history and I thought that a blog would be a fun way to teach kids (and even some adults) about the history of our national pastime. I've eve had a book on baseball history published called Amazing Aaron to Zero Zippers.